How to play Shanghai Life

Shanghai Life is a free life simulator set in Shanghai. You arrive with a little money and a lot of plans. Your job is simple: keep yourself fed, rested and happy, pay the rent every week, and climb from a hostel bunk to a river-view apartment.

1. Create your character

Pick a name and a look, then choose where you come from. Your origin sets your starting money and skills:

• Out-of-town graduate — ¥4,000, native Mandarin, a balanced start.
• Expat from abroad — ¥9,000 but almost no Mandarin. Can work as an English tutor and learns Mandarin by socialising.
• Shanghai-born — only ¥1,500, but a free room at your parents' flat in Hongkou (with free opinions about your life).
• Content creator — ¥6,000 and the ability to post vlogs. The more places you've collected, the more views you get.

You also choose one trait (Night Owl, Foodie, Social Butterfly, Hustler, Thrifty or Iron Body) and a life goal: a river-view apartment, your own café, a net worth of ¥200,000, or 30 entries in your Shanghai Book.

2. Your six needs

Hunger, Energy, Hygiene, Bladder, Fun and Social all drop over time. Together they make your mood, and your mood decides how well you work — a happy worker earns up to 110% of their pay, a miserable one as little as 50%. Let a need hit zero and bad things happen: you faint from hunger (and pay a clinic bill), pass out on a bench, or have an accident you'd rather forget.

3. Getting around: the metro

The city has nine districts — The Bund, Lujiazui, Jing'an, Wukang Road, Hongkou, Wujiaochang, Qibao, Songjiang and Zhangjiang — linked by four simplified metro lines. For every trip you choose:

• Metro — cheap and predictable, but packed at rush hour (7:30–9:30 and 17:00–19:30) and closed from 23:00 to 05:30.
• Shared bike — almost free for short hops; you'll get soaked in the rain and can't ride in a typhoon.
• Ride-hailing car — door to door, but rush-hour traffic and surge pricing add up.

4. Homes and rent

Rent is paid every 7 days. Moving in costs a deposit plus the first week. Cheap places are far from the centre (a partitioned room in Minhang, a new-build in Songjiang); central places cost more but save you hours of commuting. The Homes app shows how many minutes each flat is from your job — the core decision of the game. Miss rent for three days and the landlord changes the locks and keeps your deposit.

5. Jobs and promotions

Open Phone → Jobs. Shift jobs have fixed hours and days; arrive late or miss a shift and you get a strike — three strikes and you're fired. Every hour worked raises your Career skill and your level in that job (up to level 5, +10% pay each). Better jobs need more Career and Mandarin:

• Café barista, hotpot server, convenience store night shift — no requirements.
• English tutor — expats only, high hourly pay, flexible evenings and weekends.
• Office assistant (Lujiazui) — Career 3, Mandarin 4.
• Start-up developer, 996 (Zhangjiang) — Career 8.
• Brand manager (Jing'an) — Career 15.
• Investment analyst (Lujiazui) — Career 25.

Need money now? Deliver food orders anywhere, any time — rain pays 40% more and typhoons pay double — or drive ride-hailing. Study at the Xujiahui library, a university study café or a coding bootcamp to raise Career faster. Save ¥80,000 and you can open your own café on Wukang Road for a daily income.

6. Places, events and the Shanghai Book

Each district has its own places: xiaolongbao near Yuyuan Garden, the Bund at night, the Shanghai Tower, café hopping in Jing'an, a citywalk on Wukang Road, scallion oil noodles in Hongkou, midnight crayfish in Yangpu, Qibao Old Town, Sheshan hill and more. Many have opening hours.

Shanghai also happens to you: the volunteer at the bins quizzes you on trash sorting, Line 9 is too full to board, plum-rain season ruins your laundry, your landlord raises the rent, an auntie at the People's Park marriage market interviews you, and your boss sends "在吗?" at 11pm. Every food, place and moment you experience is collected in your Shanghai Book.

7. Other players

Shanghai Life is shared. Create a free account and you'll appear in the city: other players see you in their district, on the map and in the City feed (what everyone is doing right now). Tap any player to wave or send them a bubble tea, xiaolongbao or flowers — gifts boost their needs. You can also post on your district's noticeboard and climb the net-worth leaderboard.

8. Coming back every day

Each real day you play you get a red envelope, and the amount grows with your streak. Every in-game morning you get a recap of yesterday that you can share as an image.

FAQ

Is Shanghai Life free?

Yes. It runs in any modern browser on phone or computer, with nothing to download.

Can I win real money?

No. All money in the game is fictional and can't be withdrawn or exchanged.

Is it the real Shanghai?

It's inspired by Shanghai. Places and prices are simplified and changed for the game.

Do I need an account?

No — you can play as a guest and your life is saved on your device. An account backs up your life, lets you play on any device and makes you visible to other players.